Blizzard of 2026

Been busy digging out from this historic snowstorm this week. Totally sucks but thankfully the next few days look to be much nicer.

Had my implant fixed this morning but there’s a couple of other issues that need addressing so I’ll be going back for a few more times over the next couple of months and then hopefully after all that I’ll be good to go for a long time.

VD Weekend Activities

Had a pretty fun Valentine Day weekend overall. We got to do a bunch of stuff, like get heart shaped pizzas from a local restaurant and trying breakfast at a place called the Purple Rooster, which we went to years ago when they were in a different location than they are now. Went to Like No Udder for some treats and I got a hoodie. Pretty chill. Got to learn the new car a little bit more, like what does what with the various infotainment screens.

Had a dentist appointment this morning, Have to go back next week. Something is up with an implant I had done 15 years or so ago. Nothing too major, think it just needs a little updating.

Business as Usual One Layer at a Time

Hi folks! Haven’t been too many updates of late as there hasn’t been that much worthwhile to update with, but that should be changing as the weather is getting better and some hurdles are behind us. I have taken on caring for a neighbors dog now and again, so that’s new.

What a nerd.

This popped up in my head this morning and I can’t believe it’s been 30 years since this was taken! That’s me sitting at the computer during my days at Arthur D. Little doing AutoCAD work. I believe the image on the screen was the plume of contamination we were investigating at the time over at the Natick Army Labs. This was a promotional shot that the company wanted to do for some marketing or newsletter or some such.

Now that I think about it, ADL had their own photography lab people and would do all this stuff inhouse for their own newsletters that would go out to the employees. Who would ever do that! Of course that was before we got email and all that stuff. Memos would have to be written and printed and then someone from the mailroom would deliver the memo to our mailbox and then we would physically get it and work it out from there. They would reuse the same manila envelope but just cross off the previous office address and we’d write in the next space where we’d want it delivered to next. I had forgotten all this stuff but now it’s flooding back to me.

The white table like thing next to my right was the digitizing tablet. This big piece of tech that basically I could trace over hardcopies to get the images into a digital format that I could manipulate or use later. Generally a geologist would draw out what they needed on the hard copy, I would tape it to the tablet, calibrate the tablet, and then digitize the image they had drawn and get it into the computer. I must have drawn and created thousands of images in my time doing that kind of work. I would then save them as “Layers” which could be turned on and off on the figures to display different things, or to show change over time for instance. A lot of these finished drawings I would then print on a plotter, basically a giant printer. I must have printed thousands of plates that were 44″ x 34″. Then you had to physically cut the drawings to size with a razor and fold the maps to fit into pockets that would go into the reports. Everything was hard copy in those days!

Helping Support the Cause for DV

Thank you Needham Police Department, Babson College, and Gabby Petito Foundation for raising awareness around the red flags of domestic abuse and how we can help survivors safely escape. What a powerful event. They had the parents of Gabby do a talk. We weren’t able to make it unfortunately but we were able to get some coins to help support the event and cause.